There are often times when I am not in control of how food is prepared and don't feel comfortable asking. I think if you are paying for a meal in a restaurant it is easier to ask these things before ordering, but when a guest in someone's home, unless a food allergy is involved, I prefer to make the best choices I can based on what I know. Sometimes this is just a guestimate, but I figure if I am trying to make the best choice and counting something it is better than throwing caution to the wind. Gone are the days of thinking "screw it...I've already blown it with the appetizer, I may as well lick my plate clean and have two desserts".
I don't know if it is my age kicking in, the point I'm at in my WW journey, the side of my brain that rules common sense finally getting through to the pleasure only side, or a combination of everything but I am listening to my body now in ways that I didn't before. If I have eaten a good breakfast and lunch and think I am hungry around 3:00, the first thing I try is more water. Often what our body is saying is "I'm thirsty" but out of habit, we give it a candy bar. {Not me personally....and if you're the clerk at 7-11 that would swear otherwise...I'm not that person anymore...honest!!} If I still think or definitely know I am hungry, I have fruit or a piece of WW string cheese and perhaps think of moving dinner time up a little sooner. The funny thing is that I don't think I have felt hungry once in the evening since starting WW. We usually have dinner between 6:00 and 6:30 and often I am awake until midnight or 1:00. I drink water, decaf coffee or occasionally diet Coke in the evening but rarely eat after dinner. Even if I have dessert, it is shortly after if not immediately following dinner.
My point is that not only do two people not lose the same way, at different points in our lives, individuals will lose differently. Part of that is our metabolism and how it changes. One time in my 30's on WW, I lost 11 pounds the first week on plan. Wouldn't that be something if that was the norm?!! Unfortunately for me, that was when my goal was still a number on the scale or a dress size. That focus didn't work for me. Once I reached the number, I got sloppy with what went into my mouth. One night of excess wasn't going to hurt. It wouldn't have, but one night became three, then ten and old habits crept back but if you've struggled with weight, you know that story.
I am ok with being 62.5 and having a slower metabolism than when I was 30. For one thing, it beats being dead and having no metabolism at all. I'm a bit smarter about worldly things and a whole smarter about myself at this age than 30 years ago. If your weight is headed in the right direction, you are doing fine even with occasionally hiccups at the scale. It would be easy to think "if I had lost 2 pounds per week, I'd be down 90 pounds now" but why not carry that further and think that if I had lost a "mere" three pounds a week, I'd been down 135 or 4 pounds would put me .....dead! Yes, I'm getting a little silly, but judging yourself by the speed of reduction is silly too. Do better with what you can, food choices and exercise, and your body will respond.
The best thing for me to remember is that if I had nothing different from what I was doing last year at this time, I would be 63.7 pounds heavier than I am today. I wouldn't be playing tag with my grandson and would still be on blood pressure medication. This success so far is immeasurable.
No comments:
Post a Comment